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The purpose of this study is to compare measurement scales of sports fans’ motivations applied to women’s football.

A survey research approach was used to collect 574 valid responses from participants in Brazil and the USA. Three prominent scales – Sport Interest Inventory (SII), Sport Fan Motivation Scale (SFMS) and Motivation Scale for Sport Consumption (MSSC) are were compared using the structural equation modeling technique.

The results indicate that the SII scale demonstrates superior predictive power for variables such as “purchase intention,” “electronic word of mouth,” “identification as a fan” and “interest in women’s football” compared to the SFMS and MSSC scales. The primary motivation among followers and spectators of women’s football in the study was “supporting women’s opportunities” in sport.

While the study is grounded in the most relevant scales pertinent to the theme, the limited academic production on the subject hinders direct comparisons with prior research.

Leveraging the insights from the SII scale, football team managers can refine their marketing strategies by understanding the primary motivations driving women’s football consumption. This knowledge can inform targeted efforts to enhance women’s football consumption, subsequently expanding opportunities for women in the sport.

This study provides valuable information that can inform initiatives aimed at boosting women’s soccer consumption, thereby contributing to increased opportunities for women in the sport.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study represents the first attempt to compare scales in the specific context of women’s soccer, contributing with a unique perspective to the development of women’s sports.

Fault-related monitoring variables selection is a process of obtaining a subset of variables from the original set, which is of great significance for reducing information redundancy and improving the performance of the fault diagnosis models. This paper aims to propose a novel variables selection approach based on complex networks.

Firstly, a dual-layer correlation networks (DlCN) which consists of mechanism-oriented correlation sub-network (MoCSN) and data-oriented correlation sub-network (DoCSN) is constructed. Secondly, an algorithm for identifying critical fault-related monitoring variables based on dual correlations is introduced. In the algorithm, the topological attributes of the MoCSN and correlation threshold of the DoCSN are used successively.

In the experiments of vertical elevator fault diagnosis, the critical fault-related monitoring variables selected by the DlCN-based approach is more effective than the traditional approaches. It indicates that fusion mechanism-oriented correlation can enhance the comprehensiveness of variable correlation analysis. Moreover, the approach has been proved to be adaptable to different fault diagnosis models.

In the DlCN-based variables selection approach, the mechanism-oriented correlation and data-oriented correlation are comprehensively considered. It improves the precision of variables selection. Meanwhile, it is an unsupervised and model-agnostic approach which addresses the shortcomings of some conventional approaches that require data labels and have insufficient adaptability for fault diagnosis models.

In the era of Industry 4.0, the relevance of webinar tutorials, a form of distance learning, is paramount. These tutorials can catalyze self-regulated learning, critical thinking and communication skills, especially for prospective and in-service teachers pursuing higher education. This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework and report the results of implementing a flipped classroom with whiteboard animation and modules. This innovative approach seeks to enhance students' self-regulation, critical thinking and communication abilities.

This study employs a mixed-methods approach. In the first phase, a hypothetical model and conceptual framework for the Flipped Classroom with Whiteboard Animation and Modules were developed to enhance self-regulation, critical thinking and communication skills. The resulting conceptual framework was then implemented through a quasi-experiment using a non-equivalent control group design involving 83 elementary school teachers enrolled in the Elementary School Science Education course (PDGK4202), divided into three treatment groups. Qualitative data were collected through observations of the learning process, documentation of student worksheet completion and interviews with students. Questionnaires and tests were used as instruments for quantitative data collection. Qualitative data were analyzed using descriptive methods, while quantitative data were evaluated using MANCOVA.

The findings demonstrate significant improvements in students' self-regulation, critical thinking skills and communication abilities after implementing the Flipped Classroom with Whiteboard Animation and Modules.

Some limitations in this study need to be recognized. These limitations include the specific sample type of elementary school teachers who went back to college to take science learning courses in elementary school. Teachers have various diversity that may affect the dependent variable, such as age, educational background, facilities, internet signal stability at their learning location and teaching experience. This study was conducted in a specific context (using the flipped classroom model at UT), so the results may need to be more generalizable to other educational contexts with different facilities, systems and policies. In addition, the measurement of self-regulation and communication skills, particularly with questionnaires, relies on self-report, which can be biased due to socially desirable responses or inaccurate self-assessment. Although the MANCOVA test showed significant results, it is possible that other variables not controlled for in this study (e.g. intrinsic motivation, social support from family or colleagues) also affected the independent variables.

This study emphasizes the importance of adapting webinar tutorials for Industry 4.0 and enhancing self-regulated learning, critical thinking and communication skills, particularly for working students and teachers. It offers a practical framework for educators and suggests ways to improve online learning materials. The implementation results show significant skill enhancement. These findings have practical implications for educators, institutions and instructional designers, guiding the development of effective distance learning strategies and curriculum improvements in the digital age.

The social implications of this study are noteworthy. In the context of Industry 4.0, adapting webinar tutorials to promote self-regulated learning, critical thinking and communication skills is essential not only for the educational sector but also for the broader society. It equips prospective and in-service teachers, who are pivotal in shaping future generations, with the necessary skills to navigate a rapidly changing digital landscape. Furthermore, enhancing self-regulation and critical thinking abilities among employed students contributes to a more informed and adaptable workforce, fostering societal resilience in the face of technological advancements.

The uniqueness of this study stems from the creative modification of a webinar tutorial, which specifically targets the urgent requirement for enhancing abilities among teachers and university students. The conceptual framework serves as a valuable tool for educators, and the findings of this study confirm its effectiveness in enhancing self-regulation, critical thinking abilities and communication proficiency. Furthermore, the recommendations offered also furnish practical insights to improve this model.

This study introduces the Digital Maturity Assessment Model (DMAM), a model tailored to assess the digital maturity of SMEs, tracing its development from addressing business challenges to establishing a comparative analysis framework grounded in Resource Dependence Theory (RDT).

DMAM is based on positivist philosophy and objectivist epistemology, supported by Design Science Research (DSR) and Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). The methodology involves iterative development, from problem identification to creating a practical solution for assessing SMEs' digital maturity and guiding digitalization efforts.

DMAM offers a clear and specific methodology, distinguishing itself by addressing the unique needs of SMEs, particularly resource-dependent ones. The model’s development fills critical gaps in existing literature and provides a practical artifact for SMEs' digitalization.

DMAM is original in its focus on the specific needs of resource-dependent SMEs, offering actionable recommendations and addressing shortcomings in existing models. It serves as a foundational framework for SMEs' digital transformation, making a significant contribution to the digital maturity assessment literature.

Tracing the development of a parallel-engaged pedagogy of care that extended and adapted the critical and transformative pedagogies of Freire, De Sousa Santos and hooks to the South African context. The development of this transformative pedagogy addresses the local conditions of an architectural design studio at a postcolonial, post-Apartheid and post “Fees must Fall” protests South African university. This pedagogy used practice-based design research to build a more conscious, critical and careful design practice in both students and educators.

The pedagogy was developed through participatory action research, over five years, from 2019 to 2023 including two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Parallel and active engagement of students and educators within a nurturing and caring environment evolved from year to year, through a conscious and critical reflection on the process. Student surveys, reflective essays and focus groups unearth the impact of the parallel-engaged pedagogy of care.

The parallel-engaged pedagogy of care was shown to support and scaffold students becoming more conscious, critical and careful in their design practices validating diverse lived experiences as generative for design and important for social justice and transformative equity.

The parallel-engaged pedagogy of care is part of a global shift to more transformative pedagogies that address student diversity and decoloniality.

Through dismantling traditional hierarchical teaching modes, the pedagogy is more student-led, agile and adaptable. Through centring and demonstrating care in the pedagogy, students are encouraged to develop both self-care and care in their design practice. This is especially critical in the South African context where the cultural capital of the institution, with its roots in colonial and Apartheid education differs from that of the majority of students of colour.

In today’s rapidly evolving work landscape, the design of office spaces is a crucial concern for organizations. Companies are redefining offices as collaboration hubs to entice employees back to in-person work. However, the understanding of how employees choose their workspaces, especially for collaborative activities, and how this should inform office design is lacking. Workers’ collaborative activity patterns can help better understand workspace choice behavior (WCB). In two studies, this paper aims to explore which characteristics of collaborative activities to consider when reshaping offices.

Data collected in a cross-sectional study design at a research institution (n = 285) and a university (n = 352) were used for confirmatory factor analyses and regression analysis.

The first study shows that collaborative activities can be classified into three distinct types: coordinative activities (planned and formal), deep collaboration (planned and complex) and spontaneous communication (informal and short encounters). The second study revalidates this classification and reveals patterns impacting WCB. Frequency and location preference of spontaneous communication and work environment satisfaction are strong predictors of on-site work. Personal characteristics like gender, age, managerial position or commute time are less consequential than assumed.

The results pinpoint guidelines for office designers and leaders in shaping effective workspaces and policies.

This paper provides new insights into classifying collaborative activities and personal characteristics, activity characteristics and environmental factors influencing WCB.

In this study, we explored factors driving evidence-based management (EBM) decision-making in Poland which has experienced changes from state-controlled market environments to more competitive ones. Evidence-based management requires the critical use and adaptability to information to deal with complex problems.

In total, 422 Polish managers responded to a telephone survey measuring their perceptions about decision-making culture, styles, competence, and their use of specific sources to derive the evidence to enable them to make evidence-based decisions. Informed by theoretical principles, we used Hayes’ PROCESS macro (Model 4) to examine whether each factor produced direct effects on EBM decision-making and the mediating influence of competence and style in the relationship between culture and perceived evidence-based decision-making.

All three factors correlated positively with perceived evidence-based decision-making. Moreover, style was not predictive of EBM decision-making compared to competence and culture while culture had an imposing effect on decision-making both as a direct effect and indirectly through competence.

This study provides important insights into the perceptual state of EBM among Polish managers. It emphasizes the importance of embracing diverse cultures and improving critical thinking to help managers make more evidence-based decisions during significant changes in the business world.

Recognizing the importance of Robo-advisors in digital financial services, this paper aims to analyse the users’ perception and acceptability of artificial intelligence (AI) in digital investment solutions using an extended “Technology Acceptance Model” (TAM).

The model is tested using 454 online valid responses received from Indian Fintech users via direct path analysis, mediation and moderation.

The study’s findings show that trust, perceived usefulness and perceived risk all significantly impact users’ attitudes towards Robo-advisors. In contrast, ease of use and social influence did not impact users’ attitudes statistically. Furthermore, the results indicate that their attitudes and ease of use influence users’ intentions to adopt Robo-advisors. Moreover, the moderation effect of gender partly supports the overall model. Specifically, in the path between attitudes and their antecedents, gender plays a role in influencing the relationships among these variables. This aligns with preliminary research in the field, providing additional insight into how gender may moderate the factors influencing users’ attitudes and intentions regarding Robo-advisory services.

This research study also reveals that trust, perceived risk, ease of use and demographic factors influence the adoption of Robo-advisory services. It is functional, but its sample selection is not probabilistic and overly emphasizes gender. Future research should use probabilistic sampling, other demographic factors and experience and situational factors. Also, it is necessary to examine how convenient and satisfying it is to communicate with service providers. Filling these gaps will improve the knowledge of consumer behaviour in the context of Fintech adoption and develop the current research.

This study posits that perceived usefulness, trust, perceived risk and ease of use remain core determinants of adopting Robo-advisory services. So, to improve the level of trust of users, it is necessary to develop security measures, data clarity and quality and customer support. Enhancing ease of use by incorporating better interface gestures is always beneficial for increasing the number of users and their level of satisfaction. As identified in previous studies, practical solutions will be achieved by pursuing the increased use of technology while leveraging AI for personal services and minimizing perceived risks, which will strengthen more advanced security measures as well as sufficiently clear communication.

The paper aims to extend the TAM by incorporating measures of trust and social influence to identify the factors that drive the adoption of Robo-advisors. In doing so, the paper may contribute to developing a more comprehensive understanding of the factors that shape consumers’ attitudes and intentions towards these technologies. Moreover, the paper appears to examine the moderating effect of gender on attitude and its predictors, which could provide insights into how gender characteristics may impact the adoption of Robo-advisors.

Public procurement presents substantial market opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which can contribute to their economic growth. However, limited dynamic capabilities often pose challenges for SMEs to participate effectively in public procurement markets. Drawing on dynamic capability (DC) theory, this study explores whether financial capability (FNCP) influences SMEs’ ability to leverage their technological capability (TECC) and marketing sensing capability (MKSC) and actively engage in public procurement.

Data for this study were collected from 248 SME managers in the Ilala District, Tanzania, using a cross-sectional questionnaire survey and stratified random sampling technique. The proposed hypotheses were tested empirically through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the Hayes PROCESS macro.

TECC and MKSC demonstrated significant positive associations with SME participation in public procurement (SMPP). Moreover, the interaction between TECC and FNCP as well as the interaction between MKSC and FNCP demonstrate a significant positive effect, suggesting that FNCP strengthens the impact of TECC and MKSC on SMPP.

The scope of this study was limited to SMEs in the Ilala District of Tanzania, hence affecting the generalizability of the findings to other contexts. More importantly, the study findings enrich the understanding of DC theory, signifying that the integration and reconfiguration of MKSC, TECC and FNCP add significant value to SMPP.

The findings suggest that policymakers, support institutions and SME managers should focus on enhancing SMEs' MKSC and TECC to improve their participation in public procurement. In addition, improving SMEs' access to financial resources can further strengthen these effects, enabling more inclusive participation in public procurement.

The study contributes to the literature on SMPP by highlighting the critical roles of MKSC and TECC. It also underscores the importance of FNCP as a moderator in these relationships, which has not been addressed in the existing literature. By integrating these factors, the study offers a comprehensive framework for understanding the dynamics that influence SMPP from financial, technological and marketing perspectives, particularly in developing economies like Tanzania.

This study aims to investigate the effects of economic policy uncertainty (EPU) on Italian hospitality sector. The investigation attempts to explain whether hotel performance drops when the perceived economic uncertainty increases in the period 2018–2022.

The study examines the impact of EPU on hotel performance in a sample of 661 Italian luxury hotels. To establish the relationship between EPU and hotel performance, we employ the generalized estimating equations (GEE) technique on 3,305 hotel-year observations.

The results show that EPU has a negative impact on hotel performance. More specifically, the analysis reveals that EPU is negatively and significantly related to the revenue per available room (REVPAR), average daily rate (ADR) and hotel occupancy (OCCR). We also look at the role of hotel brand chain affiliation and the moderating effect of conference space and hotel wellness services on the relationship between EPU and hotel performance.

Results provide new evidence for academics to critically evaluate the behavior of luxury hotels under uncertain economic conditions. The investigation offers valuable information also for government, tourism policymakers, tourist hotel owners, hoteliers and tourism managers in their decision-making.

This study provides strategic implications for practitioners and operators in hospitality industry to evaluate the factors ensuring hotel profitability in periods of EPU.

This paper provides interesting insights into the characteristics and practices of profitable hotels in Italy. Few econometric studies empirically explored the effects of EPU in the hospitality field so far and no prior study investigated this topic in the Italian hospitality sector. Therefore, this paper tries to close an important gap in the existing literature improving the understanding of EPU in the Italian hospitality industry.